Hafizullah Amin was an Afghan communist politician during the Cold War. Amin was born in Paghman and educated at Kabul University, after which he started his career as a teacher. After a few years in that occupation, he went to the United States to study, he would visit the United States a second time before moving permanently to Afghanistan, starting his career in radical politics. He failed to secure a seat. Amin was the only Khalqist elected to parliament in the 1969 parliamentary election, thus increasing his standing within the party, he was one of the leading organizers of the Saur Revolution which overthrew the government of Mohammad Daoud Khan. In 1979 he named himself president, prime minister, chairman of the Khalq wing, he has been described as "ruthless" and a "radical Marxist". Amin's short-lived presidency was marked by controversies from beginning to end, he came to power by disposing of his predecessor Nur Muhammad Taraki and ordering his death. Amin made attempts to win support from those who revolted against the communist regime which had begun under Taraki, but his government was unable to solve this problem.

Many Afghans held Amin responsible for the regime's harshest measures, such as ordering thousands of executions. Thousands of people disappeared without trace during his time in office; the Soviet Union, dissatisfied with Amin, intervened in Afghanistan while invoking the Twenty-Year Treaty of Friendship between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. Amin was assassinated by the Soviets on 27 December 1979 as part of Operation Storm-333, having ruled for longer than three months. Hafizullah Amin was born to a Ghilzai Pashtun family in the Qazi Ghel village in Paghman on 1 August 1929, his father, a civil servant, died when he was still young. Thanks to his brother Abdullah, a primary school teacher, Amin was able to attend both primary and secondary school, which in turn allowed him to attend Kabul University. After studying mathematics there, he graduated from the Darul Mualimeen Teachers College in Kabul, became a teacher. Amin became vice-principal of the Darul Mualimeen College, principal of the prestigious Avesina High School, in 1957 left Afghanistan for Columbia University in New York City, where he earned MA in education.

It was at Columbia that Amin became attracted to Marxism, in 1958 he became a member of the university's Socialist Progressive Club. When he returned to Afghanistan, Amin became a teacher at Kabul University, for the second time, the principal of Avesina High School. During this period Amin became acquainted with a communist. Around this time, Amin quit his position as principal of Avesina High School to become principal of the Darul Mualimeen College, it is alleged that Amin became radicalised during his second stay in the United States in 1962, when he enrolled in a work-study group at the University of Wisconsin. Amin studied in the doctoral programme at the Columbia University Teachers College, but started to neglect his studies in favour of politics; when he returned to Afghanistan in the mid-1960s, the route flew to Afghanistan by way of Moscow. There, Amin met the Afghan ambassador to the Soviet Union, his old friend Ali Ahmad Popel, a previous Afghan Minister of Education. During his short stay, Amin became more radicalised.

Some people, Nabi Misdaq for instance, do not believe he travelled through Moscow, but rather West Germany and Lebanon. By the time he had returned to Afghanistan, the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan had held its founding congress, in 1965. Amin ran as a candidate for the PDPA in the 1965 parliamentary election, lost by a margin of less than fifty votes. In 1966, when the PDPA Central Committee was expanded, Amin was elected as a non-voting member, in the spring of 1967 he gained full membership. Amin's standing in the Khalq faction of the PDPA increased when he was the only Khalqist elected to parliament in the 1969 parliamentary election; when the PDPA split along factional lines in 1967, between Khalqists led by Nur and Parchamites led by Babrak Karmal, Amin joined the Khalqists. As a member of parliament, Amin tried to win over support from the Pashtun people in the armed forces. According to a biography about Amin, he used his position as member of parliament to fight against imperialism and Reactionary tendencies, fought against the "rotten" regime, the monarchy.

Amin himself said that he used his membership in parliament to pursue the class struggle against the bourgeoisie. Relations between Khalqists and Parchamites deteriorated during this period. Amin, the only Khalq member of parliament, Babrak Karmal, the only Parcham member of parliament, did not cooperate with each other. Amin would during his short stint in power, mention these events with bitterness. Following the arrest of fellow PDPA members Dastagir Panjsheri and Saleh Mohammad Zeary in 1969, Amin became one of the party's leading members, was still a pre-eminent party member by the time of their release in 1973. From 1973 until the PDPA unification in 1977, Amin was second only to Taraki in the Khalqist PDPA; when the PDPA ruled Afghanistan, their relationship was referred to as a disciple following his mentor. This official portrayal of the situation was misleading. Taraki needed Amin's "tactical and strategic talents". Amin had attracted many enemies during his career, the

Fracchia contro Dracula is a 1985 Italian horror-comedy film directed by Neri Parenti. Giandomenico Fracchia, Villaggio's "monstrously shy" character, is tasked to sell a piece of real estate in Transylvania, otherwise he will lose his job; the customer is the obtusely nagging and prickly accountant Arturo Filini, who suffers from heavy nearsightedness and who does not realize that the manor he is interested in is Count Dracula's castle. Once on the spot, Fracchia is terrified at the going-ons while Filini, in true Mister Magoo-style, dismisses them as'tricks' to dissuade him from the estate deal. Meanwhile, a young and attractive vampire hunter, determined to avenge the death of her brother, who perished trying to rid the world of Dracula and his cohorts; the events turn more farcical when Dracula's sister confesses her love for Fracchia to try to avoid being engaged to the Frankenstein Monster. In the end an ash-tipped umbrella seems to solve the situation, but...was it all for real or just a horror-movie fueled nightmare?

Paolo Villaggio: Giandomenico Fracchia Edmund Purdom: Count Vlad / Dracula Gigi Reder: Ragionier Filini Ania Pieroni: Countess Oniria Giuseppe Cederna: Boris Isabella Ferrari: Luna Susanna Martinková: Catarina Romano Puppo: the Frankenstein Monster Filippo De Gara: butler of Dracula Federica Brion: Stefania Paul Muller: employer of Fracchia Lars Bloch: the doctor Fraccia contro Dracula was distributed theatrically in Italy by Titanus on December 19, 1986. The film grossed a total of 818,235,000 Italian lire. Film historian and critic Roberto Curti stated that the film was a commercial disappointment being released at a fruitful time of the year and only becoming the 60th highest grossing film in Italy of that year. Fracchia contro Dracula on IMDb

Satanic holidays have been described by both Satanists and by Christian authors, as well as by historians of witchcraft, who in turn relied on Christian accounts. In The Satanic Bible, founder of LaVeyan Satanism Anton LaVey writes that "after one's own birthday, the two major Satanic holidays are Walpurgisnacht and Halloween." Other holidays celebrated by members of the Church of Satan include the two solstices, the two equinoxes, Yule. Christian authors have written dozens of anti-Satanic books with lists of alleged "Satanic ritual days". According to the Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance, some authors appear to lack major direct knowledge of Satanism making claims without citation or substantiation. In The Edge of Evil "Grand High Climax" is said to be a major holiday celebrated by Satanists on December 24. Evangelical Christian author Jerry Johnston writes in this book that it is a celebration meant to juxtapose the Christian holiday of Christmas Eve, when the birth of Jesus Christ is celebrated.

However this goal to blaspheme is not always prevalent. Johnston claims that Grand High Climax is traditionally celebrated with a Black Mass, followed by great excesses of food, drink and merriment, but a rite called "Grand High Climax", the details of the activities involved, is not a rite acknowledged by all Satanic groups, it was once beliefs about the Witches' Sabbath. LaVey, Anton Szandor. "Religious Holidays". The Satanic Bible. New York: Avon Books. ISBN 978-0-380-01539-9. OCLC 26042819. Ross, Colin A.. Satanic ritual abuse: principles of treatment. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-7357-0. - satanic holidays mentioned on pp 113–114 Lewis, James R.. Satanism today: an encyclopedia of religion and popular culture. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-292-9. P 277 quote: "the two most important Satanic holidays are Halloween and Walpurgisnacht". Non-credible List of Satanic Holidays at ReligiousTolerance.com

Indian painting has a long tradition and history in Indian art, though because of the climatic conditions few early examples survive. The earliest Indian paintings were the rock paintings of pre-historic times, the petroglyphs as found in places like Bhimbetka rock shelters, some of the Stone Age rock paintings found among the Bhimbetka rock shelters are 10,000 years old. India's ancient Hindu and Buddhist literature has many mentions of palaces and other buildings decorated with paintings, but the paintings of the Ajanta Caves are the most significant of the few survivals. Smaller scale painting in manuscripts was also practised in this period, though the earliest survivals are from the medieval period. A new style was introduced with Mughal painting, representing a fusion of the Persian miniature with older Indian traditions, from the 17th century its style was diffused across Indian princely courts of all religions, each developing a local style. Company paintings were made for British clients under the British raj, which from the 19th century introduced art schools along Western lines, leading to modern Indian painting, returning to its Indian roots.

Indian paintings can be broadly classified as murals and paintings on cloth. Murals are large works executed on the walls of solid structures, as in the Ajanta Caves and the Kailashnath temple. Miniature paintings are executed on a small scale for books or albums on perishable material such as paper and cloth. Traces of murals, in fresco-like techniques, survive in a number of sites with Indian rock-cut architecture, going back at least 2,000 years, but the 1st and 5th-century remains at the Ajanta Caves are much the most significant. Paintings on cloth were produced in a more popular context as folk art, used for example by travelling reciters of epic poetry, such as the Bhopas of Rajasthan and Chitrakathi elsewhere, bought as souvenirs of pilgrimages. Few survivals are older than about 200 years, but it is clear the traditions are much older; some regional traditions are still producing works. It seems clear that miniature painting illustrating manuscripts, has a long history, but Jain miniatures from about the 12th century from West India, earlier Buddhist ones from the Pala Empire in the east are the oldest to survive.

Similar Hindu illustrations survive from about the 15th century in the west, 16th century in East India, by which time the Mughal miniature under Akbar was sometimes illustrating translations into Persian of the Hindu epics and other subjects. The great period of Mughal court painting begins with the return of Humayun from exile in Persia 1555, bringing Persian artists with him, it ends during the reign of Aurangzeb who rather disapproved of painting for religious reasons, disbanded the large imperial workshop, by 1670. The artists dispersed to smaller princely courts, both Muslim and Hindu, the "post-Mughal" style developed in many local variants; these included different Rajasthani schools of painting like the Bundi, Jaipur and Mewar. The Ragamala paintings belong to this school, as does the Company painting produced for British clients from the mid-18th century. Modern Indian art has seen the rise of the Bengal School of art in 1930s followed by many forms of experimentations in European and Indian styles.

In the aftermath of India's independence, many new genres of art developed by important artists like Jamini Roy, M. F. Husain, Francis Newton Souza, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde. With the progress of the economy the forms and styles of art underwent many changes. In the 1990s, Indian economy was liberalised and integrated to the world economy leading to the free flow of cultural information within and without. Artists include Subodh Gupta, Atul Dodiya, Devajyoti Ray, Bose Krishnamachari and Jitish Kallat whose works went for auction in international markets. Bharti Dayal has chosen to handle the traditional Mithila painting in most contemporary way and created her own style through the exercises of her own imagination, they appear fresh and unusual; the oldest Indian paintings are rock art in caves which are around 10,000 years old, such as the Bhimbetka cave paintings. The history of Indian murals starts in ancient and early medieval times, from the 2nd century BC to 8th – 10th century AD. There are known more than 20 locations around India containing murals from this period natural caves and rock-cut chambers.

The highest achievements of this time are the caves of Ajanta, Sittanavasal, Armamalai Cave, Ravan Chhaya rock shelter, Kailasanatha temple in Ellora Caves. Murals from this period depict religious themes of Buddhist and Hindu religions. There are though locations where paintings were made to adorn mundane premises, like the ancient theatre room in Jogimara Cave and possible royal hunting lodge circa 7th-century AD – Ravan Chhaya rock shelter; the pattern of large scale wall painting which had dominated the scene, witnessed the advent of miniature paintings during the 11th and 12th centuries. This new style figured first in the form of illustrations etched on palm-leaf manuscripts; the contents of these manuscripts included literature on Jainism. In eastern India, the principal centres of artistic and intellectual activities of the Buddhist religion were Nalanda, Odantapuri and Somarpura situated in the Pala kingdom. Early survivals of portable Indian paintings are all miniatures from texts or painted objects such as boxes.

Despite considerable evidence that larger paintings on cloth existed, indeed surviving texts discussing how to make them, not a single medieval Indian painting o

Larry Eugene Boone is an American country music artist and songwriter. Between 1985 and 1993, Boone recorded five major label studio albums, in addition to charting several singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts, his highest-charting single, "Don't Give Candy to a Stranger", reached No. 10 in 1988. Boone has co-written several singles for other country music artists, including a Number One single for Kathy Mattea, Top Ten hits for Don Williams, Tracy Lawrence, Rick Trevino and Lonestar. Larry Boone was born in Cooper City, Florida in June 7, 1956, he is a distant relative of Daniel Boone. He attended Florida Atlantic University and moved to Nashville in 1981, his first cut as a songwriter was Marie Osmond's 1985 single "Until I Fall in Love Again". Boone was signed to a recording contract with Mercury Records in 1986. Boone's debut single "Stranger Things Have Happened" was released that year, reaching a peak of No. 64 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts. It was the first of seven singles from his self-titled debut album, released in 1987.

The album's last single, 1988's "Don't Give Candy to a Stranger", was Boone's highest charting single, peaking at No. 10.1988 saw the release of Boone's second album, Swingin' Doors, Sawdust Floors, which produced Top 20 hits in "I Just Called to Say Goodbye Again" and "Wine Me Up". Meanwhile, he continued to write songs for other artists, including "Burnin' Old Memories", a Number One single for Kathy Mattea in 1989. Boone's third and final album for Mercury, 1990's Down That River Road, produced only one single before he was dropped from Mercury's roster. In 1991, Boone signed to Columbia Records, his first album for the label, 1991's One Way to Go, was released that year, followed by Get in Line two years later. Both albums produced minor hit singles. Boone continued to compose songs for other artists throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, including singles for Shenandoah, George Strait, Rick Trevino, Tracy Lawrence. Notes: A "Too Blue to Be True" did not chart on Hot Country Songs, but peaked at No. 8 on Hot Country Radio Breakouts

A Krimstock hearing is an administrative law proceeding that offers vehicle owners the opportunity to recover possession of a vehicle confiscated by the New York City Police Department during an arrest. The NYPD has the authority to impound vehicles that it claims were used as an instrument of a crime, to seek permanent ownership of these vehicles in civil forfeiture actions; such forfeiture actions, like the Krimstock administrative hearings, are separate from any criminal charges the vehicle owner may face stemming from his or her arrest. At the hearing, the NYPD must demonstrate that it followed proper procedure in arresting the person and taking the vehicle, that it is to win the civil forfeiture action, that returning the vehicle would cause a danger to the public. If the NYPD fails to demonstrate one of these three things, the vehicle is returned to its owner pending the outcome of the separate civil forfeiture action; the Krimstock hearing process was ordered into creation by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a 2002 opinion authored by Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

The hearings are remarkable because they are a recent example of an new, judicially created, procedural due process right. The hearings are conducted by the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings and presided over by New York City administrative law judges. In 2003, the New York State Court of Appeals mandated that similar hearings be conducted in Nassau County, Long Island; the NYPD began seizing vehicles upon the arrest of the driver in the 1980s pursuant to a city ordinance that allowed for such forfeiture when the vehicle was used as an instrument of a crime. Vehicles were confiscated from people charged with both misdemeanors and felonies, ranging from drug possession and solicitation of prostitution to illegal gun possession. Unlike the older New York State civil forfeiture statute, the NYC law did not provide for any type of prompt due process hearing. Vehicles were held for months and years while owners waited for the NYPD to bring civil forfeiture actions; the vast majority of the time, these forfeiture actions never came.

In 1998, for example, of the 1,800 vehicles seized, less than one percent went to trial. In 1999, the NYPD added driving while intoxicated to the list of crimes that they would impound vehicles for, resulting in thousands of additional seizures. In 2000, the Special Litigation Unit of The Legal Aid Society brought a class action lawsuit on behalf of a number of vehicle owners, waiting years for the return of their vehicles. One of those vehicle owners, a named plaintiff on behalf of the lawsuit's certified class, was Valerie Krimstock, her name became part of the title of that lawsuit, Krimstock v. Kelly — hence the name "Krimstock hearings." In 2002, the Second Circuit heard the case. The majority opinion was written by Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayor wrote that under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, vehicle owners have a right "to ask what ‘justification’ the NYPD has for retention of their vehicles during the pendency of proceedings, to put that question to the NYPD at an early point after seizure in order to minimize any arbitrary or mistaken encroachment upon plaintiffs' use and possession of their property."The Second Circuit applied the three-part balancing test of Mathews v. Eldridge.

It reasoned that: a significant private interest was affected considering the length of the retention and given that vehicles are "often central to a person's livelihood or daily activities". In consultation with the parties, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York chose OATH, a tribunal in the executive branch of NYC government, which adjudicates matters for a variety of NYC agencies, as the location for the new Krimstock hearings. By 2004, when the hearing began, the NYPD held over 6,000 vehicles in "legal limbo."Through the continuing advocacy of The Legal Aid Society, the Krimstock hearing process has been refined and the original Krimstock order and judgment has been twice amended by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The procedure for the Krimstock process is outlined in the Third Amended Krimstock Order, it is further directed by precedent set by past Krimstock decisions. The Center for New York City Law at New York Law School keeps an archive of all OATH decisions, including Krimstock decisions.

The return of vehicle under the aegis of a Krimstock hearings may be only temporary. Whether the vehicle is confiscated is determined at the civil forfeiture proceeding in New York State Supreme Court. Upon seizing a vehicle, the NYPD is required to give the vehicle owner a Vehicle Seizure Form; this form instructs the vehicle owner on. Vehicle owners must attend the hearing; because vehicle forfeiture is a civil matter, vehicle owners are not entitled to a free attorney as defendants are in a criminal trial. Accordingly, some owners are represented by an attorney. OATH attempts to provide assistance for pro se owners, including a detailed how-to website created in 2011 in conjunction with t